Cycle of Fugues

Last update 3/14/2010

I’m working on a book of 12 piano pieces called “Cycle of Fugues” (or some catchier name, as soon as I think of one) – so named because it will eventually contain one piece in each key signature. I currently have two fugues finished, one in F (1 flat) and one in e (1 sharp). Two more are under development: one in C (no flats/sharps) and one in A (3 sharps).

Each of these pieces is a fugue. The fugue is a musical form in which there are four voices which enter one after the other in a round, and then diverge into more complicated harmonies and countermelodies. It’s a chance for me to learn how to create nice-sounding harmony and also figure out ways to play with the fugue structure in ways the listener does not expect.

Here’s an example of one of the pieces I’ve written. You can click this link to hear the audio (it’s a .mid so it will be played by your computer’s synthesizer): Fugue number 2 in e

and you can see the score itself here:

I began this project in high school, when I wrote Fugue number 1 in F using CakeWalk. I’ve since transitioned to the nice open-source music notation program MuseScore, which is very flexible (if still a bit buggy). I picked up music writing again around 2008, and have polished up the first fugue and gotten to work on the others in the meantime.

With 4 out of 12 pieces currently under construction, I’m aiming to finish this project by the end of 2011. I still haven’t figured the best way to publish my the music, but I’d like to create a spiral-bound book that is easy to use at the piano and distribute it to family and friends. Let me know if you want a copy!